Crossing Lakes

[Geronimo]

I know one of the things we all hate is new content creating new bugs.

But considering they already have boat crossings I can't help wondering if there shouldn't be a way for us to be able to cross lakes with a canoe, either accessible from our inventory, or available in more locations and maps.

Is this a challenge for devs, or would it be possible without the concerns of further glitches?

[The Eagle]

Agree, we need to be able to cross some of the bigger/longer lakes without having to walk all the way around!

[yogisgoat]

Yes to this but the problem, I think, is that they don't want to do the animation work that it would require. The boat crossings they do have are really just a limited version of the already existing fast travel.

[VictoriaHuntress]

Originally posted by yogisgoat:

Yes to this but the problem, I think, is that they don't want to do the animation work that it would require. The boat crossings they do have are really just a limited version of the already existing fast travel.

I think it would be similar to the ATV travel, in terms of work - after all, the engine already can render a view from your location anywhere in the virtual world. If the watercraft is a canoe, then they'd have to work on the paddling animations, but if they use an inflatable Zodiac with a small outboard motor, then not much more animation is required. After all, they did it with COTW: The Angler, with those power boats. That would be a start, anyway.

What would it take?:
1. the ability to render a view from any point in the virtual world - check.
2. the ability to move your location and update your 1st person POV- check
3. the ability to change your velocity: both steering and speed throttle - check.
4. the ability to change camera to a 3rd person POV - check
5. the ability to enter and exit a boat moored at a dock or shore - check
6 - collision detection with objects - check (in this case rocks and boulders, the shores of lakes, river banks, and islands).

Why they treated point-to-point boat travel between ferry docks as fast travel instead of a real-time 1st person POV? Business reasons ($$$ and time) often outweigh technical reasons, but now that they have a prototype from 'The Angler'....

What they don't have they can reuse and adapt from The Angler (it's EW's, built on the Avalanche Apex Engine):
- rendering the 1st and 3rd person POV's of the player's avatar sitting in the watercraft.
- handling shallow water & bottoming out the boat
- rendering the bow waves and turbulent wakes from the stern of the boat
- maybe splashing if the boat is moving fast enough

[yogisgoat]

The problem is that while they're working on something like this they are NOT, apparently, too concerned with many long standing bugs.

[VictoriaHuntress]

Originally posted by yogisgoat:

The problem is that while they're working on something like this they are NOT, apparently, too concerned with many long standing bugs.

This is true, too. I suppose it depends on what their project management considers to be the more valuable business case - defects, new features that we've so far managed to live without, or new maps. They only have so many resources to go around, and defect fixing is actually very demanding compared to new development - one has to be able to reproduce the problem to find the root cause, understand it, and then design, implement and test a proper fix.

[Geronimo]

There doesn't have to be any animation, just A to B travel points as with the crossings that exist on Revontuli.

Have those on any map on large lakes. They could even use the boat/wharf graphics they use now. Doesn't have to be a new graphic of canoe on the shoreline, although that should be easier to produce than a wharf layout. Lol

The goal is to offer more large lake crossing opportunity across all reserves with large lakes.

[VictoriaHuntress]

Originally posted by Geronimo:

There doesn't have to be any animation, just A to B travel points as with the crossings that exist on Revontuli.

Have those on any map on large lakes. They could even use the boat/wharf graphics they use now. Doesn't have to be a new graphic of canoe on the shoreline, although that should be easier to produce than a wharf layout. Lol

The goal is to offer more large lake crossing opportunity across all reserves with large lakes.

Even that would be a useful feature.

[creep_]

Hardly ever used them on Revontuli. Only one instance comes to mind where I really would have needed a boat ride. Think it was a giant grizzly on Yukon. Tried to circle it as fast as possible but it was long gone when I arrived.

Even if those existed they would probably not be in a convenient spot to get you where you need to be in that exact moment. It does not sound like a lot of work but even adding small touches to the older maps seems to wreak havoc on them. We've seen that in the past.

Thinking about maps like Yukon: Would that be a realistic sight? Just leaving out some boats for the occasional hunter who might want to go for a ride while being completely unattended for months maybe? Probably not. On maps like Hischfelden and Revontuli absolutely plausible, on the more remote maps noone would bother.

I agree that it would be nice to have them but their usefullness would be very limited.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by creep_:

Hardly ever used them on Revontuli. Only one instance comes to mind where I really would have needed a boat ride. Think it was a giant grizzly on Yukon. Tried to circle it as fast as possible but it was long gone when I arrived.

Even if those existed they would probably not be in a convenient spot to get you where you need to be in that exact moment. It does not sound like a lot of work but even adding small touches to the older maps seems to wreak havoc on them. We've seen that in the past.

Thinking about maps like Yukon: Would that be a realistic sight? Just leaving out some boats for the occasional hunter who might want to go for a ride while being completely unattended for months maybe? Probably not. On maps like Hischfelden and Revontuli absolutely plausible, on the more remote maps noone would bother.

I agree that it would be nice to have them but their usefullness would be very limited.

It's meant to be for crossing a lake to pick up a kill, not to head them off at the pass lol.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by VictoriaHuntress:

Originally posted by Geronimo:

There doesn't have to be any animation, just A to B travel points as with the crossings that exist on Revontuli.

Have those on any map on large lakes. They could even use the boat/wharf graphics they use now. Doesn't have to be a new graphic of canoe on the shoreline, although that should be easier to produce than a wharf layout. Lol

The goal is to offer more large lake crossing opportunity across all reserves with large lakes.

Even that would be a useful feature.

And let's face it, if the Devs really wanted to dissuade from mass killing they wouldn't create grinding problems like the 16000 dollar cost for tents and blinds, or weapons worth 50 grand.

I get them wanting to add some degree of leveling and goals, for those players that want that sort of thing, but in the end it is supposed to be a hunting experience.

[creep_]

Originally posted by Geronimo:

It's meant to be for crossing a lake to pick up a kill, not to head them off at the pass lol.

Never had that happen. Maybe when hunting waterfowl and they float in the wrong direction. I rarely tend to hunt long range.

BUT even if. The route of the boat would be fixed and it is unlikely that it will conveniently transport you to where you need to be. Yes, it will be faster than running a full circle, but how often does that happen? I would just move on and don't shoot at all.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by creep_:

Originally posted by Geronimo:

It's meant to be for crossing a lake to pick up a kill, not to head them off at the pass lol.

Never had that happen. Maybe when hunting waterfowl and they float in the wrong direction. I rarely tend to hunt long range.

BUT even if. The route of the boat would be fixed and it is unlikely that it will conveniently transport you to where you need to be. Yes, it will be faster than running a full circle, but how often does that happen? I would just move on and don't shoot at all.

I'm sure you wouldn't give up a trophy just because you didn't want to run around a lake to get it. It doesn't happen alot, but now and than I'll see a nice kill opposite me across a lake and suffer The Long Walk, lol.

[creep_]

Originally posted by Geronimo:

Originally posted by creep_:

Never had that happen. Maybe when hunting waterfowl and they float in the wrong direction. I rarely tend to hunt long range.

BUT even if. The route of the boat would be fixed and it is unlikely that it will conveniently transport you to where you need to be. Yes, it will be faster than running a full circle, but how often does that happen? I would just move on and don't shoot at all.

I'm sure you wouldn't give up a trophy just because you didn't want to run around a lake to get it. It doesn't happen alot, but now and than I'll see a nice kill opposite me across a lake and suffer The Long Walk, lol.

I did in the case of the fat grizzly more or less. You could see without binocs that it was an absolute unit of a bear but I didn't have a rifle on me to take a shot. Didn't check if it could have been a diamond but certainly looked like one. That's why I remember it vividly. That sucked but I just wasn't equipped for long range.

I always had pretty bad luck when hunting anyway. Of course I always check the shorelines for drinking spots even when not planning to go there, but that one grizzly is the only trophy that comes to mind I missed. Everything else, well probably a few missed golds. A few red deer maybe where I also thought they might be diamond but none were of course. I only have one non-mission diamond. A fallow I accidently stumbled upon on a road. So it might be just my extraordinary bad luck when hunting.

So yeah, agreed. IF I had seen more of those I would probably like a boat on occasion.

[The Eagle]

They have them on the Mississippi map and they work just fine. A point A to B would help alot. It would save some time to hunt instead of walking around some of the larger bodies of water. I know someone will come up but you are hunting as you are walking, not. You are going to pick up your animal and not really paying that much attention to the hunt!